No. 1 Princeton Deals No. 4 Elis First Home Loss

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Saturday the No. 4 Yale men's squash team took their first Ivy loss and their first loss at home this season, falling to the defending national champion, No. 1 Princeton. The match was in contention until the third wave of competition, when the Tigers grabbed points at Nos. 1, 4 and 7 to make the final score 6-3.

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start, losing two of the first three matches. At No. 9, freshman Pehlaaj Bajwa dropped three close games (11-5, 13-11, 12-10) to Michael LeBlanc, while at No. 3, senior Richard Dodd also lost in three (11-8, 13-11, 11-8) to Tyler Osborne. Freshman Zachary Leman gave the Elis their only win in the first cycle, beating Taylor Tutrone 12-10, 11-9, 11-8 at No. 6.

In the second round of matches, Yale leveled the score with important wins at Nos. 2 and 5. Playing in the second spot, senior captain Hywel Robinson took down Samuel Kang 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-1; at No. 5, junior Neil Martin earned an 11-3, 11-8, 11-8 win over Stephen Harrington. With the Bulldogs ahead 3-2, junior Eric Caine battled on against Vivek Dinodia, but eventually fell in four games to bring the score to a tie.

It was in the third cycle that the match was decided. Senior Kenneth Chan lost in three games to Todd Harrity at No. 1, and suddenly the fate of the match rested in freshman Sam Fenwick at No. 4 and junior Charlie Wyatt at No. 7. After five close games on each court, both matches ended in victories for the Tigers.